


Hold Still

by anidalah



Series: Kim's Life is Strange Drabble Compilation [15]
Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, I think this is my first time writing a het relationship in a long time, cute and fluffy, drabble challenge, it FEELS weird
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-07
Updated: 2017-08-07
Packaged: 2018-12-12 13:37:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11738160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anidalah/pseuds/anidalah
Summary: Chloe didn’t know what hurt worse: her leg or her pride.  She felt like an idiot wiping out in front of Justin and Trevor and she knew they’d never let her live it down.  It didn’t matter that she was better at skateboarding than them, that Trevor ended up hitting himself in the nuts on almost a daily basis.  Her fuckup was the basis of a remark that “Girls can’t skate,” or some bullshit like that.  It was the least she could do to pretend that she wasn’t hurt.  It took everything in her to act like it didn’t hurt, to continue hanging around until it started raining and then forced herself not to limp as they walked back to the dorms.





	Hold Still

**Author's Note:**

> So this is supposed to take place when Chloe’s like 16 and still going to Blackwell. It’s also probably way too cute and sweet but dammit, they both suffered enough.

 

Chloe didn’t know what hurt worse: her leg or her pride.  She felt like an idiot wiping out in front of Justin and Trevor and she knew they’d never let her live it down.  It didn’t matter that she was better at skateboarding than them, that Trevor ended up hitting himself in the nuts on almost a daily basis.  Her fuckup was the basis of a remark that “Girls can’t skate,” or some bullshit like that.  It was the least she could do to pretend that she wasn’t hurt.  It took everything in her to act like it didn’t hurt, to continue hanging around until it started raining and then forced herself not to limp as they walked back to the dorms.

As she looked up the stairs she had to climb, she couldn’t deny the throbbing any longer.  It was a pretty gnarly scrape, not deep enough to be of any real concern but enough that there was blood seeping down her leg.  It hurt with every beat of her pulse.  The thought of her lower leg flexing as she walked up the stairs seemed like torture, not to mention just another thing to cause the bleeding to worsen.

“Holy shit Chloe, what happened?” a voice asked, shaking Chloe from her stupor.  It was Nathan Prescott.  She didn’t know much about him, other than the name, that he came from money, and that he was one of Rachel’s good friends.  Because of that, Chloe had always at least been pleasant towards him but she didn’t know if she was comfortable admitting she was in any sort of pain to him.

“I just hella fucked up while skating.  It’s no big deal.”  She could tell from the look Nathan was giving her that he knew she was full of shit.  She was bleeding, for fucks sake, and the scrape did span a good portion of her calf and shin.

“You’re bleeding all over the God damn carpet.  You should go clean that up.”  When Chloe froze and averted his gaze, Nathan realized that she wasn’t going to do such things.  Nathan groaned, rolling his eyes, before grabbing her hand and dragging him to his room.  He had a rather fancy first aid kit in there.  He told her to sit down on the couch while he grabbed it.

“Why do you have all this shit?” Chloe asked as Nathan grabbed all the things that were needed to properly clean and disinfect the wound.  She flinched as he pressed a cold wipe to her leg.

“Hold still.”  Nathan’s voice was gentle, calm, like he had absolutely no qualms about the blood.  Chloe always assumed little rich bitches would be squeamish.  Hell, even she didn’t like the sight of blood.  She was fairly desensitized to it after all the cuts and scrapes she’d enduring as a child, climbing trees and being pirates with Max, but she still didn’t think she could handle blood on a regular basis and be a nurse or something.  However, from how carefully Nathan treated the wound and how expertly he wrapped it in gauze, it appeared that he might make a fine nurse someday.

“Why are you so good at this?” Chloe asked as she further inspected the wrapping on her leg.

Nathan shrugged, hoping that would be a sufficient answer.  He didn’t want to get into it; he was starting to regret helping Chloe in the first place.  He couldn’t help it, though.  He knew all too well how much scrapes hurt, and the pain would be especially bad since it was on her leg and she had stairs to climb.  Anyone with an ounce of compassion would’ve offered to help.

Of course, he didn’t count on her actually asking him why he’d learned first aid skills.

“Nah, dude, really.  Where’d you learn how to do this?  It would be a useful skill to have.”  Because that wasn’t the first time Chloe ate pavement while skateboarding and it certainly wouldn’t be the last.  Plus, she and Rachel had gotten quite a few nasty looking cuts while trying to clear out and customize that tiny abandoned building in American Rust.  When she had to doctor Rachel, she’d ended up using a forth of a tube of Neosporin and like six Band-aids.

Again, Nathan shrugged.  “My dad made me take a first-aid class.”  He wished he’d come up with the lie sooner because it certainly would rouse suspicion that he hadn’t outright said it.  Most people didn’t care to ask, or, like in the case of Victoria and Rachel, they already knew the real reason he was good at that stuff.  He’d had no choice but to get good.

And of course Chloe asked him why he hadn’t just outright told her because it wasn’t like first-aid courses were something to be embarrassed about.  It wasn’t like she could have known the real reason.  She couldn’t know that he’d gotten good at cleaning cuts and scrapes because of how angry his dad got.  She couldn’t know that he’d been taught by Kristine, and had gotten exponentially better at that care after she left.  What Chloe did know was that Nathan Prescott was sitting on his bed, crying.

“Oh God -please don’t- I’m sorry, I don’t know what I did but I’m sorry,” Chloe stammered out.  She was never good with tears, her own nor that of others, and she felt her pulse racing.  She hadn’t meant to upset him, however she’d done it, but she had to of done something awful if she was making Nathan-fucking-Prescott cry.

“Just go away…” Nathan attempted to command but his voice sounded so meek and fragile.

Chloe was conflicted.  She was sure that leaving was the one thing a person wasn’t supposed to do when someone was crying.  Plus, Nathan didn’t really act like he wanted to be alone; she knew she absolutely hated being alone when she was crying.  It just made her feel worse.  So she did for Nathan what she knew she’d want if she was crying.  She got on the bed beside him and wrapped her arms around him.

“I’m sorry, Nathan, I’m sorry I’m such a fuck up…”  She really felt that way because, _fuck_ , someone tried to help her and she made him cry without even meaning to!  Nathan responded by leaning into her, letting her wrap her arms around him as he buried his head in her shoulder.  He hated that he appeared so weak in front of someone he hadn’t really known that well, but he was actually very happy that he wasn’t alone.

Chloe lingered around Nathan’s room long after he’d stopped crying.  They both pretended like it hadn’t happened and just transitioned from cuddling on the bed to watching Netflix like it was something they always did.  It was far less awkward than addressing what had happened.

At some point, Nathan ordered Chinese food to be delivered to his dorm room and asked Chloe if she wanted anything.  Chloe felt like she’d overstayed her welcome, but her leg was bruising and it felt so sore.  She also wasn’t going to turn down free food, especially since it was late enough that the cafeteria would be closed and she was famished.  It wasn’t like Nathan was acting in any way to make her feel like he didn’t want her around.  He seemed to be enjoying her company.  Surprisingly, she was enjoying his as well.

The Netflix marathon continued well after they finished their Chinese food.  It was mostly because they’d decided on watching Bob’s Burgers and Chloe was appalled that he’d only seen a few episodes.  He cited the art style being so weird that it turned him off of the show but she promised that if he ignored that he’d find the show hilarious.  Three episodes turned into six, twelve, and by midnight Chloe had fallen asleep on Nathan’s bed.

When she woke up the next morning, she found Nathan sleeping on his couch in a flannel pajama set.  She was surprised that he hadn’t woke her up and told her to get the hell out of his room; that’s what she would’ve done regardless of who it was that had fallen asleep on her bed.  She sat up and stretched before deciding she needed to take the gauze off her leg to assess the damage.

She carefully unwrapped the gauze and removed the tape, trying not to make a mess as she did so.  She still wondered how Nathan managed to wrap it so expertly, doing a good enough job that the wrapping didn’t fall off or even move during the night.  There were gradients of purples and yellows on her leg and the scrape had scabbed over.  There were bits of dried blood caked on that she would wash off in her morning shower.

She was only relaxing on the bed for a moment, playing on her phone and wondering if it would be more awkward if she just left or if Nathan found her still on his bed when he woke, before Nathan began to stir.  He rolled onto his back, giving her a sleepy smile as he wished her a good morning.  A light blush tinted her cheeks when the thought that he looked rather adorable entered her mind.  She didn’t need to be thinking about the Prescott kid like that.  They were pretty much as opposite as could be.

Though, as she saw him go to his desk draw and not-so-sneakily take some pills out of orange prescription bottles, she thought that maybe they weren’t so different.  She’d glanced at his movie collection the night before and they liked all of the same things.  She approved of a lot of the things on his Netflix Watch List.  Plus, they were both artists in their own ways.

“I had a good time with you last night.  Maybe we could do it again sometime?”  Nathan was trying to hold eye contact with Chloe but found himself looking past her while he picked at his cuticles.  Again, Chloe found that he looked adorable.  _Fuck_.

“Hell yeah.  Gotta make sure you keep watching Bob’s Burgers!  How about tomorrow night we get some burgers from Two Whales and watch more?”  Because watching Bob’s Burgers while eating burgers was one of the few simple pleasures in life that made Chloe really happy.

“Yeah, sounds good.”

Chloe knew Nathan was watching her as she put her skater shoes on, which she didn’t find entirely unpleasant.  It just made her face brighten.  She was hyperaware of her movements as she made her way to the door.  She turned back to face him, smiling as she told him she’d see him later.

It was then that Nathan moved towards her, pressing his lips against hers.  It was gentle, sweet, with a chasteness she found herself liking a lot more than she thought she would.  She normally liked things rough, with lots of raw emotion but it seemed fitting with how little they knew one another.  They needed to test one another a bit more before that could happen.  For the meantime, a cute little kiss was enough.

Chloe found herself smiling as she walked out of Nathan’s dorm room, curious as to what the future might hold for them.


End file.
